A few months ago, I was living my best life in Italy; I felt like I was in a Lizzie McGuire movie. That is a whole book’s worth of stories that I can’t even begin to get into, but it seems necessary to give some background on where this story took place. To clarify, this is not an actual event that took place, as you’ll be able to deduce. It was a dream, a very vivid, wild 2 p.m. induced dream. It’s also how one of my best friends and I decided to write a book about our “wildest dreams” — cue Taylor Swift background music.
As a short side note and acknowledgment, this article was made possible by the 10-minute voice note my friend luckily recorded when I told her I had something crazy to share. Thank you, Talia, for always knowing when things may come in handy at a later date.
The story takes place somewhere in Oregon, where I live; a beach is involved, but not in the geographically correct area. (It was very magical looking for a random beach that didn’t belong)
The dream starts with me calling a random business to get laser hair removal. Upon making my appointment, I get information regarding the extensive directions to this building. When the time comes for the appointment, I drive around for 15 minutes trying to understand where it is with no results. I ask multiple people on my drive to no prevail. The center of this dream is in a parking lot down a random small hill, the left side housing a large grocery store with a full gluten-free window display and the right side has buildings underneath an entire forest-looking situation. As I go down the steep hill to this small area, I see a parking lot that immediately turns into a beach and isn’t filled with cars but beverage carts. Every imaginable drink is being sold, with at least 10-12 small stands selling various beverages. When the people in the parking lot, where the building supposedly is, essentially tell me I’m going crazy and this place is not here. Deciding to give up my search, I head to the grocery store and look around. While looking at the window display where I can still see the parking lot, I run into a woman who is probably in her 60s and has gray hair with a “hippy, magical” vibe. She is dressed in flowy clothing and beaded necklaces with a very all-knowing demeanor. I ask her about this laser hair-removal place and she stares at me for a few moments before making a non-committal “ahh” sound.
The dream is at a turning point now. I’m instructed to follow her, walking in silence while she takes me down the ramp once more and onto the beach just off the parking lot area. We turn to the left and see that the beach extends much further, but the buildings above, including the grocery store, are built onto this cliffside and the beach isn’t visible until you are down in this odd parking lot. I am suddenly aware of this old lady’s name — Sicily — while we begin our walk. It seems to last a lifetime with no purpose or end location. I’m not entirely sure why I thought it was a good idea to blindly follow a stranger somewhere where no people were around and no one else had even heard of but dream me didn’t seem at all concerned about these semantics.
The dream comes to its main plot when Sicily and I walk upon a cement alley carved into the side of this cliff that is very much so not made of concrete. Looking down this very out-of-place alley see a horse. I’m talking about a full-grown, massive brown horse lying on the ground. You can imagine my surprise in this situation- where am I, who is this lady and why a horse? I’m also far less annoyed in this situation than non-dream me would be with half of my day gone. I don’t get to have my hair zapped away and a stranger is leading me to a horse. The only information Sicily tells me when I look at her with a confused expression on my face is, “it’s Her.”
I want to add that this “it’s Her” phrase has now been a running joke and a commonplace phrase we use in our friendship since this voice memo was recorded.
After finding the horse, or “Her,” Sicily explains that someone comes along who initially had a different reason for finding this place every few years. For me, it was laser hair removal; for others, it was a retail store or another random business. Either way, they all come and instead find Sicily and this area with a horse only called “Her” and a beach/parking lot situation. A disappointing conclusion as the only thing I remember about the ending is sitting on the beach while the sun sets.
So, this story doesn’t really have a conclusive ending or any point other than to entertain and put this wild dream into writing. Listening to the 10-minute voice memo was a fun trip down memory or, rather, dream lane. Personally, I think it was just a crazy dream, but maybe there’s a point after all.
Maybe the point is to enjoy the journey or to find your own guide for a period in your life where you need direction. Maybe the point is that sometimes we find what we didn’t know we needed and it sets us on the right course.